Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(46)

“Are you sure?” Lizzy asked. “Which one is a rumor and which is truth?”

“I’m sure. Wanda couldn’t bear the idea of them living down there together in that villa, so she and Mitch cooked up the story that they were already married. The people in that area think that they were married when they arrived.” She jerked the tab off the top of the soda can and took a long drink. “But they’re really planning a ceremony with only family when they fly in for that weekend. Then Sunday the church is cooking up a reception and shower. In between, they will be here in Dry Creek for our festival.”

“A lie like that is starting off a ministry on a sour note if you ask me, which no one did, but Mitch isn’t even a blip on my radar anymore.” Lizzy touched her soda can to Allie’s in a toast. “May they be happy, wealthy, and in love all their married life.”

“Well, that’s real generous of you considering what he put you through. So if that’s not why you are scared, then what is? If it’s me on the roof, I’m not even big enough to be off balance yet, Lizzy. And I’m not stopping what I do because I love my work. I’d go crazy without it.”

Lizzy sat down in the floor beside the laundry basket and rubbed Stormy’s fur. “I worry about you but I understand. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself with this store.”

Why couldn’t God have shared the need to vent, to talk matter of the heart to death, to take hours to make a decision, and then change their minds with the male species? Why did he have to put the entire burden of all that upon the female gender? Add in the inability to get the words formed so they wouldn’t sound so silly with the absolute need to say them, and dammit, life was not fair.

“Spit it out,” Allie said.

“I really, really like Toby.”

There she’d said it, but she already wished she could cram the words back into her mouth. It didn’t bring a bit of relief.

“I know,” Allie said softly.

“How?”

“The way your eyes yearn for him when he’s anywhere around or when his name is mentioned. I did the same thing with Blake, but it’s not the same for you and Toby, Lizzy.”

“Why?”

Allie put the kittens back into the basket where they began to bite at anything that moved, whether it was their tails or their littermates. “I was a long time out of my relationship with Riley. Blake and I were pretty much on the same page about what we wanted in the long picture. He was wild but down deep he wanted to settle down. Toby is a player, plain and simple. It’s not that he won’t settle down with one woman. It’s more that he can’t.”

“Then you are saying a pretend relationship is the best I can hope for?”

Allie nodded. “Deke will settle before Toby. Do you see that ever happening?”

Lizzy opened her mouth to disagree but snapped it shut before she blurted out the whole story about the fling they’d had and the very real flirting that had gone on in the bathroom door the day before. Allie was right and Lizzy knew she should listen to her older sister for once.

“They’ll sell snow cones in hell before Deke quits his way of life. There’s not a woman alive who could drag him to the altar. Not even with a loaded shotgun.” Lizzy laughed and changed the subject. “The way those kids are working, the roof is going to be done by quittin’ time.”

Allie sipped at her soda. “And I’m willin’ to sit right here and let them finish it.”

“Hiring all that help sure cuts into your profit.” Lizzy tossed her empty can into the trash can. It made a loud clanging noise when it hit bottom, and all four kittens buried their little faces into their mama’s belly.

“Reminds me of three little girls who always hung on their mama’s apron strings when they were scared.” Lizzy laughed.

“Or their granny’s,” Allie agreed. “Maybe you’ve got three sisters and a brother in that basket.”

“Yep, Allie, Lizzy, Fiona, and Deke. I should name them that if there’s three girls and a boy. I never can tell if they are boys or girls. Check for me. You’ve always been good at that.”

Allie picked up each kitten and flipped it over on its belly. “You’ve got a boy here with this yellow one and here’s another boy and yep, all the yellow ones are boy kitties. Let me look at the black one.”

Fiona handed over the ball of fur and Allie turned it over. “A girl. Poor little thing will have to contend with three mean old brothers. Are you naming her Fiona?”

Lizzy nodded. “She’ll have to have a good strong name. I’ll call her Fefe for short. Help me name the boys.”

“Let’s give them our favorite cowboys’ names,” Allie said.

“Raylan is that cocky little guy who hisses when you pick him up.” Lizzy laughed.

“And this fat feller is Hoss from Bonanza,” Allie said.

“Only one left? Think we ought to name him Duke?” Lizzy asked.

“Perfect. We’ve got Hoss, Raylan, Duke, and Fiona to keep them all on their toes. I miss her so much. I want three daughters so my girls will have sisters like we’ve always had,” Allie said.

“I thought this was going to be an only child because she’s made you nauseous when you smell chili.” Lizzy picked up Hoss and buried her nose in his thick yellow fur.